343 says Halo: Master Chief Collection is coming to ‘a new place’



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This article was updated at 3:47 p.m. GMT with additional context.

343 Industries has said it will provide a “ new way to play ” Halo: The Master Chief Collection via an upcoming update.

In its latest weekly development update, studio Xbox said fans should expect “maybe a new place and a new way to play” when its next public flight test arrives later this month – here or at the beginning of next month.

The Master Chief Collection is already available on Xbox consoles, Steam, and Xbox Game Pass. A potential new destination for the six game collection is the Epic Games Store.

343 could also refer to the planned addition of a custom PC games browser, which it says would be added early this year.

343 suggests that Halo: The Master Chief Collection arrives on a new platform.

Xbox Director Phil Spencer previously said he wanted to “make our Xbox Games Studios PC games available in multiple stores, including our own Microsoft Store on Windows, when they launch. We believe that you should be given a choice of where you buy your PC games. “

Microsoft has had a close relationship with manufacturer Fortnite since the release (then acquisition) of its Gears of War series. Recently, Microsoft backed Epic in its legal battle with Apple over App Store fees.

The Epic Games Store recently reported an increase in the number of users in its 2020 report to 160 million, an increase of almost 50% from the previous year.

In a new report summarizing its performance for 2020, Epic says its daily active users increased 192% to 31.3 million, peaking at 13 million concurrent players (up from 7 million in 2019). Monthly active users in December increased from 32 million in 2019 to 56 million.

In comparison, rival Steam saw a record 120 million monthly users in 2020, daily active users 62 million, and peak concurrent users reached 24.8 million. Both platforms have reportedly benefited from an increase in gaming activity due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Last month, 343 Industries committed to providing “at least” monthly updates on the progress of Halo Infinite.

In December, Xbox studio officially postponed the release of Infinite to Fall / Fall 2021 and shared new details via Joseph Staten, the Bungie veteran who took control of the development of the Infinite campaign after its release. much criticized revelation this summer.

This was the first high-level update to the older Xbox Series X / S launch game since the summer. However, responding to fans on Reddit in January, community manager Brian Jarrard insisted the studio was engaging with fans as much as it could.

“Considering we’ve been through 12 month stretches in total darkness and our last update was on December 8th, I don’t think there is cause for concern,” he said. written.

“We’ve also confirmed our fall release window in this update so it’s now clear that we have a trail ahead of us and time to go. That said, we are committed to at least performing monthly high level updates and the next “Inside Infinite” will be out this week! “